In April 2018, Switzerland is in the spotlight at Art Paris Art Fair bringing together 142 galleries from 23 countries at the Grand Palais. On this occasion, Last Days invites the Swiss painter Franz Roth to present the celestial visions of his earthly journeys. Franz's feet firmly on the ground and the cosmic spirit are linked by a beating heart. In his daily life, no urgency, no necessity, except those of being there, here and now, to savor the presence of the gods in the smallest actions and gestures. In town, among trains, streets and factories, in bars and ports, or in the desert, by the sea, in the forest or in the skies, everywhere angels and demons cross swords and remember to our good memories. Meeting the gods every day is not for everyone. On the road since his childhood, accompanying his father selling Swiss cheeses in Italy, Franz Roth had the chance, on rainy days, to visit museums. A few years of art and graphic design studies in Bern gave him the necessary background to hit the road and paint. India and its procession of deities on every street corner, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran ... and a quick return to Switzerland before setting sail again, chasing other terrestrial manifestations of celestial somities: California, Mexico, Guatemala, Mexico for a long time this time. A few months spent familiar with sacred animals, magical skies in the Sierra Tarahumara, then a few years with a bag set on the sacred mountain of the Huicholes, necessarily leave traces. Throughout his journey, Franz will have sketched and painted the divine manifestations inseparable from his daily life. Love, discovery, war, memories, bullfights, boxing, bars and women: none exists without its eternal dimension. This is how the magic of Roth's works operates: they speak to us of everyday life, magnify it, place it in a state of permanent celebration and mourning. A lack of love? And here appears a table which speaks to us so closely that there is no difference. A drinking bout? Death is there in an eternal standoff. All the generosity and all the simplicity of Franz Roth are given to us, so close, so current that they become global and eternal. It is always possible to invoke Chagall, Bosch and a few others, Surrealism and a touch of folklore, but Franz frees us from these references by offering us moments of pure simplicity.
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